Worst First

The Worst First analysis procedure represents the simplest analysis scenario where the user would be interested in addressing the maintenance and repair (M&R) needs of the highway network that rank lowest in terms of a certain performance index. The analysis procedure would progressively address the highway sections that are structurally most deficient until the maintenance budget is exhausted. Thus in essence, this analysis procedure does not involve any optimization as the projects that are selected for receiving M&R treatments are pre-selected. The decision variable selected in the objective function will determine the ordered list of structurally deficient sections and will be sequentially processed subject to the constraints.

Below, you can see the network level performance indices for two separate scenarios – the first uses Pavement Quality Index (PQI) to define the worst-performing sections while the other uses remaining service life (RSL) to define the same. In either scenario, the maintenance budget was capped at $200,000 and therefore the analysis would terminate when the financial resources are exhausted. It should be noted in this context that the system opts to fund a particular project even when there is available budget to cover half of the project cost as it is reasonable to seek additional resources than underutilizing available funds.

Worst defined by lowest PQI	Worst defined by lowest RSL